Outboard problem question.

[Bushleague]

My 2000 50hp Johnson has been starting hard and stalling out at an idle. Yesterday, after trying a few adjustments with no success I pulled the carbs and cleaned them thoroughly, even though the idle circuit looked pretty clean on both of them. After that I messed around with the spark advance/throttle linkage some more, once again no adjustments made any improvement, or any real difference at all.

So at this point I'm thinking my next step should be to pull the flywheel and make sure the magnets havent moved, would it be worth looking at the reeds too? Anything else? thanks.

[fishn_palmer]

Had similar issues with my 2000 60hp Johnson. Changed spark plugs, fresh gas with some seafoam, fixed all my issues, has ran great ever since. I would give that a try before digging in too far.

[sanjuanworm]

Maybe a coil pack is going bad? If it has a pilot jet I'd give that a better clean. Make sure you can see throught it.

[dodgeboy1979]

check spark plugs and also fuel line, looking for cracks that could cause air to be sucked in.

[bagwan]

check spark plugs and also fuel line, looking for cracks that could cause air to be sucked in.

Also check the fuel bulb. They will collapse internally.

[Bushleague]

Thanks for the suggestions, however I naturally did try all of these minor things before I started pulling the carbs. At this point I know for a fact that spark is good, and that fuel delivery is good up to the intake manifold.

[Sea Hawk]

Do a compression test to rule out internal problems. my experience has been that low compression seems to show up at idle.

[fish99]

I had the same problem once , the ground wire for the coils had corrosion . after cleaning up the grounds no more problems.

[Bushleague]

Do a compression test to rule out internal problems. my experience has been that low compression seems to show up at idle.

Yep, did that.

Fish99, when you lost that ground did you still have spark?

[fish99]

Yep, did that.

Fish99, when you lost that ground did you still have spark?

it was a poor ground it would start run poorly then quit . hard to start sometimes as well. as soon as u put a load on it ,it would quit running

[StiksnStrings]

You mention spark and fuel delivery but, is the fuel fresh? My old Merc would always have similar issues if the fuel was older.

[YeeHaw]

Had the same issues, installed new fuel lines from the connection to the carb, no problems after. If nothing else it's good maintenance